


Thicker than water

by Sidekick_Salohcin



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Comfort/Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22796641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sidekick_Salohcin/pseuds/Sidekick_Salohcin
Summary: Karkat gets his first swimming lesson from Eridan.
Relationships: Eridan Ampora & Karkat Vantas
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Thicker than water

**Author's Note:**

> This was partly just an exercise in writing a quick story without overthinking things. I love these boys, and I wanted to put this out to spread the appreciation uwu

“Okay Kar, are you ready to get wet?” 

“God, do you really have to say it like that?”

“What? You were the one who asked me to teach you to swim” The two stood in the shallows at the beach, the waves lapping at their shins.

“Ugh, I don’t even know why I asked anymore” Karkat grumbled as he crossed his arms, feeling like a fish out of water with no shirt on.

“If I remember right, it had something to do with “amphibious training” which, while effective as exercise, isn’t really relevant in modern warfare anymore.”

Oh yeah, that’s what stupid past Karkat was thinking. Once he and his friends realized that the game they almost played was supposed to be a lot more fateful, he had gotten into a funk that his only chance of having a future of badassery and not being culled had passed him by. In a stroke of idiocy he had decided to double down on his pursuits of making something of himself enough to maybe avoid government mandated death, although “doubling down” in this case meant “actually getting out there and putting some real time and effort”. Unable to yell or mumble some stupid excuse to save future Karkat some face, present Karkat had no choice but to commit.

“Alright, whatever let’s just get this over with before we draw a crowd.”

“Don’t worry Kar it’s really simple, you’ll be swimming like a guppy in no time.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?”

“Don’t worry about it, just get over a little deeper so we can start.”

Eridan wasn’t completely sure why Karkat was suddenly so gung-ho and even less sure why he was also so hesitant and reluctant at the same time, but ultimately was more than happy to help his friend. While they hadn’t done much more than talk online, he thought highly of Karkat. Every conversation they had was chill and real, no bullshit or bad blood. As they got up to their waist, Eridan began the lesson by instructing Karkat to try and float on his back to get a feel for the buoyancy. It went decently at first, but only when he kept his hands on Karkat’s back.

“Hey man, stop thrashing so much, you can’t work against the water or you’ll sink like a stone.”

“Shut up! I’m trying to get a handle on the stupid water but it keeps moving!”

“You literally don’t even need to do anything, you can’t grab water. Now just relax, you’re already getting hot from the excess effort.”

“It’s the damn water that’s fucking cold!”

Not a lie, but a relative truth. The objective truth was that his bright candy red blood made his resting body temperature as high as trolly possible as opposed to the violetblood who was built to live in the water. As much as he knew Eridan was all talk about actually giving a shit about the hemospectrum, he still wasn’t sure if he could confide that truth, sometimes empty words turn into actions that don’t require proper conviction to be harmful. His fretting stilled as he felt two hands barely warmer than the water move from his back to under his knees and shoulders as Eridan cradles him just above the surface as he’s on his knees in the water. His body temperature isn’t biting like the water, more like a comfortable cool to the touch against Karkat’s boiling skin.

“What the fuck Eridan? This isn’t Abomination that Arises from the Mysterious Pitch Pond!”

“Well you obviously need a more gradual entry, we’ll be here all day if you keep this up.”

“Ugh, this is so stupid, I can’t even float like a piece of fucking driftwood. Let’s just call it off, I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

“Kar, just take some deep breaths or something. I never said you were wasting my time, c’mon let me help you with this. I know you can do it, now just stop freaking out about what you can’t do, being in the water requires a bit of having no control. You learn to use it to move you along by just focusing on what you’re doing in it. Now close your eyes and just focus on what your body does when you don’t move.”

As it becomes apparent that Eridan is not going to let go, Karkat eventually surrenders his objections and trusts his friend. If he just sinks then that will at least prove to Eridan that this hopeless. When he’s stilled, he feels himself gently being lowered back in, this time just focusing on his limbs mostly and the arms that still support him. He’s still embarrassed at having to ask his friend to train him like a useless grub, but at the same time who else could he ask? Despite himself, he found himself admiring Eridan’s martial prowess and knowledge of historical leaders and strategy and desperately wanting to learn to be kinda like him.

“Are you ready for me to let go?”

Oh yeah, he’d lost track of this whole gradual dip like a croakbeast being slowly boiled alive in a pot.

“Yeah man, just go for it”

“You sure? You’re feeling relaxed and ready for it?”

Okay this was starting to feel a little patronizing, but nonetheless Karkat took the jab and just thought about what he was doing instead of getting upset, if he was going to find out he was truly pathetic, he couldn’t interfere by not trying his best.

“I’m ready, just pull me out when I start choking on water.”

“Dude, I let go like a minute before I even asked.”

Karkat’s eyes shoot open and see Eridan’s amused and slightly smug face looking back at him. When did his arms leave his body? He could have sworn he had still felt his arms holding him. Even as he darts his eyes around to observe his independently floating body and is blushing at his own petulance now that he had been proven wrong and he is in fact not completely useless.

“Fuck…fuck okay, what do I do now? Do I stay like this? Do I have to do special breathing patterns?”

Eridan is only half listening to his friend as he notices the blush across his face. The singularly bright red blush, not ruddy, not crimson, but vibrant, nearly cartoonish shade of red.

“Dude! Eridan! Come on! I’m starting to freak out again! Please, just say something!”

The others had always referred to Karkat as a lowblood because he refused to type in his color, but that was just needling to get him to say what it really was. He was just unusually modest or secretive, or just oddly aloof and approachable at the same time. But this…how had he survived this long? He should have been culled long before setting foot outside the grub caves.

“Will you please stop staring off and wipe that smug look back on your face!”

No, he SHOULDN’T have been culled! He didn’t deserve that! Eridan feels the water around him start to feel warmer as his body goes cold at what this means. He was at a crossroads, the troll he considered his best friend and had more than once considered as a Pale Quadmate was floating in front of him, completely trusting him, which now would mean going against everything he had been taught about and tried to believe in.

“Kar…your blood…”

Karkat visibly stiffened, now very much acting like driftwood, completely at the mercy of the water and the highblood staring holes into his bright cheeks. 

Looking into the fearful eyes of the lowblood…mutantblood? He finally couldn’t ignore the big question that had quietly poked at the edges of his mind for sweeps: if it was the spectrum or Karkat Vantas, what would he choose?

“Eridan please…I’ll go into exile, you don’t have to tell anyone. If our friendship has ever meant anything, please just give me a headstart.”

Those pleading tears tell him the answer that deep down he’s always known, but was hoping he’d never have to face. But now that errant hope was destroyed, and in its place Eridan found new resolve. He knew what he believed and he’d tear down anything that got in the way of realizing it.

“You’ll do none of that. Karkat Vantas, by my violetblood strength, as a loyal highblood, as friend to the Heir Apparent to Her Imperious Condescension…I will not anything happen to you. I’m going to do everything in my power to carve a place in this world for you.”

The shocked expression and stiffness remained, but for a second the tears stopped, before resuming tenfold at his friend professing to protect him. He knew Eridan well enough to know this wasn’t some secret passion he’d hid to put on a show, no…he valued their bond so much he just chose to abandon the system that would see him killed.

“This swimming lesson is just the beginning of getting you in shape to handle yourself in a fight. Are you ready to accept this charge?”

“Eridan…you don’t have to…I can keep hiding…you…”

“Say the word and I’ll make it happen, Kar. You know I mean it.”

“…I’ll do it…whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

Eridan places a hand on his shoulder, like he’s dubbing a knight as Karkat continues to float like he’s being baptized. Karkat hasn’t seen him smile much, and never like this, it’s full of confidence, but not in himself, in the both of them. He smiles at Karkat as a brother in arms about to jump into the breach together. He splashes some water on Karkat’s face to clean off the red tear stains.

“Then come on, let’s start on some assisted breast strokes a little deeper in. We got no time to lose.”


End file.
